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3. Dealer Selection

I am not the most patient person on the planet. This is an established, self-acknowledged affirmation that no friend of mine would contradict. I’m naturally given to Type-A tendencies. Couple this with the fact that both my house and my Motor Trend Detroit parking garage are situated within two minutes driving time of major freeways, and you can understand my impatience with waiting for traffic information. Catching some “on the 8s” broadcast AM/FM report is a total crap-shoot, and even the satellite providers spend half the time talking about Detroit’s stupendous weather.

But the latest state-of-the-art navigation systems integrate the traffic reporting right onto the map display. (The yellow line you can see running along the left side of the north-south highway on the map indicates slow traffic on the southbound side of that freeway.) Now while I wait at the one of the few traffic lights standing between me and an onramp, I can quickly zoom and pan over to the freeways and see if they’re highlighted in red, yellow, or green, and plan alternate routes accordingly before I’m greeted with the sea of brake lamps that’s inevitably just out of view until too late to change directions.

The XM NavTraffic feature on the 2008 Infiniti M45x comes bundled with navigation in a Technology Package that sets you back $3350 (it costs $2150 on the G35 and comes;standard on the QX56). The system;is refreshingly user-friendly. A rotary knob surrounding arrow keys and an enter button make it easy to scan your entire driving route in way less time than it takes to outline the various temperature swings and snow and ice storms one can expect in Detroit in March. Oh, and for that stuff, the M45x’s slightly rear-biased ATESSA-ETS intelligent all-wheel drive w/snow mode, stability control,;and decent all-season tires provide confident footing for the big V-8’s 325 horses.